Pekudei

An Accountant's Report

The great book of Shemot ends with an accountant's report. The stirring
events of the Exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the Red Sea, the
revelation at Sinai, the disaster of the Golden Calf, the war with Amalek,
all do not appear in the report at the end of the book. Instead we have an
accounting of monies and goods and services donated by the Jewish people in
order to build the Mishkan. There is nothing as boring and undramatic as an
accountant's report, a statement of profit and loss and of budgets raised
and spent. Yet an accurate accounting of money lies at the heart of all
civilized societies. Cooking the books, filing false financial statements
destroys confidence and eventually leads to far-reaching negative
consequences. Remember Enron and Arthur Andersen? The Torah therefore
prefers to end this stirring book on the somewhat mundane note of honest
and open accountability. And this is a great lesson in life.

Accountability is the name of the game in Jewish life. The Torah teaches us
that "adam muad lolam" - a person is always liable and responsible for
one's actions and behavior. Corruption in monetary matters is a symptom of
the corruption in one's heart and soul. Moshe is not entitled to be the
leader of Israel if he cannot account for the approximately one-thousand
shekel missing from the original attempt to report on the budget. Only when
the full accounting is made and all is balanced properly does the mantle of
leadership fall upon him once more. We live in a world of moral
equivalency, where no one is really wrong, where there are no clear
demarcations of good and evil, no absolutes and no accountability. This is
a truly dangerous type of world.

At the conclusion of the reading of this parsha, the congregation this
Shabbat rises and proclaims "chazak, chazak v'nischazek." - "Let us be
strong, let us be strong and let us strengthen others as well." Part of
being strong is the realization of the necessity for being responsible for
one's deeds, behavior and words. All of the great miracles and events that
preceded this parsha in the book of Shemot are meaningless in the long run
if there is no sense of responsibility and accountability instilled within
the Jewish people. Accepting the Torah at Sinai is dramatic and inspiring.
Maintaining its precepts and living its values in a dangerous and inimical
world is taxing and many times uninspiring. People crave excitement -
"spirituality." But oftentimes people think that such spirituality comes
without the necessary price tag of inhibited human behavior and personal
accountability. It is only the message of accountability that this parsha
stresses that can give us the courage and fortitude to continually rise in
the face of adversity and proclaim "chazak, chazak, v'nischazek" -" Let us
be strong, let us be strong and let us strengthen others as well."